TUSCON, Ariz. -- With the start of preseason practice slated to begin in January, the Washington & Jefferson College baseball team opens the season ranked No. 32 in the Collegiate Baseball News' 2021 Division III preseason Top 40 poll that was released on Dec. 22.
 
W&J, who finished with a 3-6 overall record during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, earned 197 points in the preseason poll. 

Cal Lutheran, who recorded a 16-1 mark in 2020, holds the No. 1 spot with 287 points. Chapman, who was the most recent NCAA Division III National Champion in 2019, was ranked second with 285 points. Webster University rounded out the top three with 283 points.
 
This marks the second consecutive season that W&J received ranking in the CBN Division III preseason Top 40 poll, as they were slotted at No. 30 in last year's ranking, when they were coming off of a 38-win season and an appearance in the Division III College World Series. 
 
W&J is the lone Presidents' Athletic Conference school and one of seven schools from the Mideast Region featured in the Top 40. 
 
The Presidents faced three ranked opponents in the abbreviated 2020 season. The highlight of the 2020 campaign was an 8-0 shutout victory over Washington University of St. Louis on March 10. Wash U is ranked No. 6 in the CBN preseason Top 40 poll. 
 
W&J returns a number of key contributors in 2021. Sophomore pitcher/outfielder Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) will look to build upon his impressive victory against Wash U, where he tossed 8.0 scoreless innings. That outing led to him earning NCBWA Division III Rookie of the Week and PAC Pitcher of the Week honors in mid-March.
 
Senior right-hander Nick Drake (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan), junior righty Henry Litman (Marietta, Ga./Walton), senior right-hander Michael Zito (Nashville, Tenn./Hume-Fogg), junior righty Kamden Kautz (Oro Valley, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge), senior southpaw Robby Heberle (Georgetown, Pa./South Side Beaver) and sophomore right-hander Shane Fox (Valencia, Pa./Mars Area) are among those returners expected to see time on the mound as well in 2021. 
 
W&J returns a wealth of depth in the outfield, as they return senior Adam Morris (South Park, Pa./South Park), sophomore Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum), Horvat and Zito. Morris and Sante paced the offense in an abbreviated slate, as they finished with .368 and .357 batting averages, respectively.
 
Junior Nate Rush (Wheeling, W.Va./The Linsly School) returns in the middle infield after starting all nine games with a .333 batting average in 2020. Junior catcher Peter Kalinski (Washington, D.C./Saint John's College) started eight of nine games in 2020. 

Senior first baseman/outfielder Adam Moore (Olean, N.Y./Archbishop Walsh), junior utility man Jameson Campbell (Painesville, Ohio/Painesville Riverside) and sophomore Logan Scheider (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) return as well after logging a varying amount of starts a season ago. 

Jeff Mountain will guide the Presidents as he enters his 19th season as head coach of the Red & Black. Mountain has amassed a 496-266-2 career record at W&J.